World Teachers’ Day: Valuing teacher voices in research

This blog was written by Laterite and the REAL Centre at the University of Cambridge.

Over the past five years, Laterite and the Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre at the University of Cambridge have led a research programme as part of the Mastercard Foundation’s Leaders in Teaching initiative. This research revealed important insights about secondary teaching and learning in Rwanda. It involved 355 school leaders and more than 2,000 STEM teachers across 14 districts in Rwanda, as well as 4,000 students, at multiple time points between 2020 and 2023.

The 2024 theme for World Teachers’ Day is about valuing teacher voices. The theme resonates deeply with our researchers, who regularly asked during the research process: What else can we do to involve teachers in this work?

With support from the Mastercard Foundation and the UK Economic and Social Research Council, we were able to not only share the research findings with participating teachers, but also bring the teachers’ views to the attention of Rwandan policymakers.

Too often, research projects do not plan for this kind of engagement with participants, focusing instead on communicating with researchers and policymakers. We have found that the cost of organising and holding these events is small compared to its benefits: teachers who are engaged with research that affects them; policymakers who are more in tune with teachers; and feasible, contextualised recommendations.

Through this blog, we share how we did this.

Step 1: Engaging with teachers about research findings

In 2022 and 2024, our researchers led a series of workshops across four provinces of Rwanda to share the research findings with a selection of teachers from different schools who participated in the research. In 2022, we held five workshops with 122 teachers and school leaders. We also wrote about the 2022 process through a blog published on the UKFKIET website. In 2024, we held five workshops with a further 176 teachers and school leaders.

The workshops were held in central locations in each province, and we supported participating teachers with travel costs. The events were held in Kinyarwanda, led by Laterite’s Rwandan staff, to encourage free-flowing discussions. Finally, the researchers prepared visual outputs in Kinyarwanda summarising the findings, which were shared with teachers during the workshops.

Step 2: Seeking and collating teachers’ feedback

This work was not only about sharing the findings with teachers. It was also about seeking their advice about how to address these findings in their schools. After all, teachers have the best understanding of what happens in the classroom. To make sure there was sufficient time for discussion, the workshops were full-day events which included facilitated discussion sessions.

Teachers discussed issues such as:

• How can continuous professional development opportunities be adapted to best suit teacher and classroom needs?
• How can teachers be supported to continue to close the achievement gap in STEM subjects in secondary education – especially less advantaged students such as girls, overage students, students from less selective regular schools and students from poorer households?
• What can be done to support teacher motivation?

“We are pleased to see that the teachers’ opinions are valued. This demonstrates strong collaboration, as it is through these recommendations that we contribute to improving the quality of education in Rwanda.”

Feedback from a Rwandan school teacher

 

Step 3: Sharing findings with Rwandan policymakers

In both 2022 and 2024, the teacher workshops culminated with a policy event held in Kigali, Rwanda. These events included government representatives, teachers, researchers, funders and development partners. Both occasions offered unique opportunities for these attendees to engage with each other to discuss the research findings and input from teachers.

The Ministry of Education (MINEDUC)’s Chief Technical Advisor, Mr. Pascal Gatabazi, summed it up well:

“Our teachers are more than just educators, they are the cornerstone of our education system. They have a deep understanding of the realities within our classrooms. It is essential that we listen to their voices and allow their experiences and insights to guide our discussions.”

Attendees discussed:

• Which recommendations from teachers are most feasible to implement quickly?
• What challenges need to be addressed to implement these recommendations?
• How can these challenges be addressed?

Step 4: Staying in touch with teachers

Holding the workshops and policy events is not the end of this process. Our researchers synthesised the key messages and shared printed copies of the Kinyarwanda language version summaries of the teacher workshops, and of the lessons learned from the five years of research (in English and Kinyarwanda), with school leaders and STEM teachers at every school involved in the research.

We found that this follow-up with teachers not only adds value to the research, but it also helps teachers to feel more valued as participants in the research process. Both are important if we are to produce actionable research in the pursuit of high quality, equitable education for all.

“We are pleased to have received the research findings compiled in a document that we can keep. Understanding the outcomes of the research is motivating, as it highlights changes over time and areas that need our focus. This encourages us to participate in future research activities, knowing that the time we spend answering questions and the responses we provide are not in vain. We can see that our contributions are valuable.”

Feedback from a Rwandan school leader

We strongly encourage researchers to build on this model to value teachers’ voices in research and decision-making.

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Laterite and the REAL Centre at the University of Cambridge were learning partners for the Mastercard Foundation’s Leaders in Teaching, an initiative to improve teaching and learning quality in Rwandan secondary education with a focus on STEM.

All research publications are available on the Laterite and REAL Centre websites.